99 Red Balloons
by VeltPunch
Summary: Hikaru is a girl who meets a boy her age who lives at a hospital. Sai only wants to play go, and meets a girl who has his ticket out of his room and patrolling doctors; her face. Their uncanny resemblance might just give Sai another chance
1. You and I in a little magic shop

_Super old story I found cleaning out my hard drive. It does have more chapters, yes! Figured I'd upload it and keep it and share it, you know, spread the love I suppose. _

_Girl Hikaru!_

_

* * *

_

"Alright…" Hikaru Shindou kneeled down in front of the oven with wary eyes.

Next to her, Akari Fujisaki, her best friend, turned away from the eggs she was beating to notice her friend's sullen change in attitude.

"What's wrong, Hikaru-chan?" She asked, as the face began to contort into anxiety.

"I don't think its looking good." The girl began slowly, peering into the dark depths of the oven. "Actually, I think it's going to explode."

Akari rolled her eyes and put down the bowl she had been mixing, scooting the other girl aside and pried open the oven door.

"I don't know why I'm here, anyway," Said the girl with an embarrassed, averted gaze. "I'm no good at cooking, Akari-chan. I'm not all that good at being a girl, either." As if to prove her point, she pointed to her hair with bleached bangs. All the other girls dyed their whole head, but she had only dyed the front. Completely on accident, because she hadn't realized that her dye had been half empty and she ended up only with the front done. "I'm a failure." She moped to her distracted best friend, collapsing dramatically onto the counter of their home-ec class.

Akari huffed, dragging out the cake, which was, anticlimactically, unscathed. "It's fine. In fact, it smells delicious. You did great, Hikaru-chan!"

The girl looked up the, green eyes wide. "Wait… really?"

"Really!" Giggled Akari with a bit of a flounce. "Also, I think you should join the drama club, you certainly have enough skill at overreacting."

Hikaru made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, before hopping onto the side of the counter. She swung her legs out to examine her bruised shins from gymnastics. Her socks were scrunched down to her ankles—they were much too itchy—and she made a face at them. Hardly acceptable for a girl.

"I don't want to join some stupid drama club." Hikaru insisted with a wrinkle of her pert nose. "What club are you in, Akari-chan?"

The girl pulled her auburn hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. "A lot of them! I'm on the track team, and I'm in the cooking club." She motioned to the class around them, where many of the participants were part of said club. "And well, Mitani-kun asked me to join the Go Club…"

"Go?" Hikaru echoed, before bursting into laughter. "Why would you join _that_?"

The brunette quickly brushed and hid her face as she turned away to the cupboards, bowl in hand as she mixed the ingredients.

"Oh…_oh_." Hikaru narrowed her eyes with more then a bit of amusement. "It's cause you _like _him, isn't it?"

Akari, flustered, closed her eyes as her cheeks lit up. "Don't talk like that, Hikaru-chan! I don't like him." She bit out. "Anyway, he's too…aloof. He hardly goes to any of the meetings himself! TsuiTsui-kun certainly puts a lot of effort into that club…"

As Akari began anew with a rant about the go club and how much she _didn't _like Yuuki Mitani, Hikaru unceremoniously wedged a finger into her ear. How boring.

"Oh, class is almost over!" Akari turned to the clock, near dropping the bowl she was mixing. "I suppose I'll put this in the fridge." She turned to Hikaru. "Clean up this place! I don't want Sensei making us stay after!"

Hikaru mock saluted as she hopped off of the counter, grabbing the package of flour and the sugar at the same time and stuffing them back into the cupboard. She doubled back for the carton of eggs, carrying them off to the class fridge along with the milk.

"Hikaru-chan!" Said Sakura with a grin, one of her classmates. "How'd your cake turn out?"

Hikaru smiled. "Really good actually!"

Tomoyo, another one of the girls in the class, giggled. "Maybe Hikaru-chan is destined to be a baker?"

"I don't think so." Hikaru scoffed, as she handed Sakura the eggs to put away, the girl took them along with her own, putting them back. "Akari did most of the work, right?"

Akari, who was wrapping the rest of their cake mix next to the large fridge, nodded absently. "Hikaru's really not that bad though." And she paused. "Accept for adding eggs. She always gets the shell in."

"I do not!" Hikaru protested hotly, but it was in vain.

The two of them cleaned up quick enough to be dismissed without having to stay behind. Those who did groaned in exasperation. Akari pulled Hikaru through the crowded hallways of Haze junior high, the two first years near trampled over by the many kids that bustled about.

"It's almost fall." Hikaru watched the trees lining the school, who's leaves had begun to speckle oranges and yellows.

Akari nodded. "Ojii-chan says fall always makes his bones hurt. I don't really get how that works, but I hope we don't have to take him to the hospital again—

"Hospital!" Hikaru repeated with a sudden yelp.

Akari turned questioningly to her friend, who looked like she'd swallowed a gold fish. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot my parents signed me up for community service!" Hikaru groaned. It was payment for her rioting attitude. And grades (or lack thereof). They thought that perhaps enrolling their daughter into some volunteer work would subdue her raging teenage empowerment. Fat chance of that happening.

Akari gave her an apathetic smile. "I'm sure it won't be too bad."

"Too bad?" Hikaru muttered tempestuously, as she finished her small depressing party thrown for herself. "It's gonna suck!"

Akari flinched at the force. "Well, at least it won't take too long."

Another growl.

"And anyway," She began helpfully. "I'll give you tonight's math homework first period! That way, you don't have to worry about it. "

"Really?" Hikaru brightened almost immediately. A free homework grade, not to mention a grade that was near certified to be an A. Certainly would appease her parents…right? And if she kept her grades up—or in other words, got Akari to do her homework—then she wouldn't have to keep doing community service.

A perfect world.

"Only this once though." Akari warned seriously.

And her perfect world popped.

They came to crossroad, one leading into the city and the other to the suburban housing district.

"I'll call you!" Hikaru waved to her friend, as she headed into the city.

Akari waved back. "Alright!"

She skidded to a halt in front of Tokyo Memorial, a large and towering almost nondescript building. It seemed to fit right in with the rest of the spiraling towers that surrounded it. She entered hastily, the air conditioning refreshing against the late summer heat.

She plodded along placidly until she reached the front desk, tugging at her haze junior high uniform. The lady looked quite busy, with an array of phones beeping in want of attention and two monitors in front of her, a pad of paper in her hand and a phone cradled to her ear as she wrote down a string of characters with an, "Uh-huh, I understand, what was that last letter?" and an exasperated look on her face. After a following five minutes of the same course of action, Hikaru shared her exasperation.

Finally, she put down the last phone. "Hello there, how can I help you?" She leaned over, a friendly smile on her face.

"Err—I'm Shindou Hikaru." The young girl gasped out, flustered. "I'm…signed up for community service."

"Oh! Well then, just sign in here, and put this name card on," She began anew in her enthusiasm, apparently delighted at the thought of a new volunteer to help with the load.

Hikaru did as she was told with some hesitation, unsure of how these thing worked, exactly. And nurse came and the receptionist ushered her over with a quick flurry of hands, pressing Hikaru over to the tired looking woman with a handful of clipboards in her arms. Hikaru hadn't even been inside for more then a couple minutes, yet she was already under the impression that hospitals were very hectic.

"Volunteer, eh?" The nurse read the nametag, as the two made their way through winding hallways.

Hikaru nodded wordlessly, unsure of what to say.

"Well, here we are." She stopped suddenly, and Hikaru looked up to read the sign. Terminally ill patients. "As a volunteer, you can't help with any actual paperwork and things like that, but you can keep company to these guys!"

Hikaru wanted to groan aloud—but sadly, she knew enough about respect to refrain.

They entered one of the side corridors, and the nurse stopped in front of one, "Fujiwara Sai". Hikaru grumbled low enough for the older woman not to hear her. _Great, some old man who probably is really boring and drools._ She pouted. The nurse was distracted by another woman who had stopped to add another clipboard or two onto the woman's pile, to which her leader yelped with an indignant squawk of, "I don't need anymore patient files to fill out!" To which the other grumbled, "Well neither do I!"

In the end, the woman she had been following had forked off a fair share of the load onto the other nurse, and had wasted a good fifteen minutes of the two hours and thirty minutes Hikaru was signed up for. She thought of how her two hours and thirty minutes could be better spent—playing her playstation, beating final fantasy VII, chatting with Akari, getting some more sun before summer fully closed.

"Alright be nice and smile a lot," Were the nurse's words of wisdom. And, with _great _help, added, "Try not to ask about their condition."

"Thanks." Hikaru sarcastically replied, the nurse heading off without noticing the tart.

She opened the door with a deep breath, prepared for the worst two hours (and now fifteen minutes) of her life.

"Hello," Said the voice, surprised. "I'm Fujiwara Sai. And you are…?"

Hikaru gaped.

Instead of the wrinkly, near-blind old man with drool going down his shirt and an array of tubes coming out of his nose and other strange places like she had expected, there was a young boy who looked about her age, with a soft smile and the kind of features she'd imagine to be in one of Akari's Seventeen magazines. He was all sorts of attractive, and could have been a movie star if he wanted (or, if he wasn't stuck in the terminally ill section of the Tokyo Memorial hospital).

But what really struck her as odd, was how much he looked like her.

* * *

_I'm not proud of this writing. X3 its from a bajillion and ten years ago. _


	2. Buy some chocolate frogs with the money

Talking to Sai, Hikaru found, was simply and easy. The boy was a listener by nature, and seemed to take every word that she said in, rather then dismissing most of them and only picking out the words of interest. She explained to him how she had taken up gymnastics because her mother wanted her to be a cheerleader, and she wanted to be a soccer player, and in the end decided upon gymnastics because it was still partially girly while requiring some amount of physical talent.

"I take dance lessons too." Hikaru made a face, as she leaned her head on her hands. "But they're pretty boring. I don't like ballet very much. My teacher always says my face doesn't look right, and I'm supposed to have this serene look like this," She scrunched her eyebrows and pinched her lips into a thin line, and Sai laughed—a chimerical, euphonious sound—at her antics. "But she grudgingly admits that I'm not too bad at the dancing. Although Sensei says I'm not _graceful _enough. " She ended with an exaggerated scoff.

"I mean, girls are supposed to, you know." Sai pointed out lightly.

"Sai!" Hikaru pouted. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

The two had only met three days ago, but Hikaru had come back fervently since their first encounter. Sai was funny, and witty, and smart. Everything she wanted in a boy. Of course, Sai himself wasn't exactly what she wanted—he was much too…ill, for one—but someone a lot like him. She mused this as she watched the older boy prattle on about what she should and shouldn't do, sorely reminding her of her mother. It seemed less patronizing when Sai said it, though.

"Sai," She began, with a frightening amount of insight. "Do you have a little sister?"

Hikaru backtracked immediately when she noticed the stricken visage on his face.

"Uh—it's just, you always know so much about well, being a thirteen year old girl. Which is strange.. for a fifteen year old boy. So I just…I just…"

Well, one of the gifts she certainly lacked was tact.

"Did." His voice was whisper-soft, to the point Hikaru hardly heard it.

"I did have one." He smiled briefly, poignant in its slight motion, a coruscate of emotions behind his sky-like gaze. "But she died."

"Oh…" Hikaru lowered her lashes, until they created spiky shadows against her roseate cheeks. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to bring it up."

Sai shook his head. "No, no. It's quite alright." And, with a bit of a glow. "You remind me of her."

Hikaru brightened. "I do?"

He nodded. "A lot, actually."

Hikaru propped her head up on her hands, as she leaned forward. She was sitting across from the long bed, at the foot where there was a table that slid along the gates of the bed, and had her elbows propped on it. The window curtains were pulled to let sun beams pour into the room like crepuscular rays, and lighted the side of Hikaru's face, hair glowing gold at the edges.

"Tell me more about her." Demanded Hikaru.

Sai did so gratefully.

"Well, her name was—

Hikaru learnt more about Sai by asking about his sister then she ever did by asked about him directly. She learned that he was extremely smart—much smarter then she realized—and had attended one of those elite magnet programs before furthering onto a prestigious high school. His sister was two years his junior, and had been twelve when Sai and his parents had been in the car crash—which had inevitably put him in the hospital bed he was in. Sai was terminally ill after a shard of glass wedged itself into his heart, keeping him from most strainuous activities and making him the careful subject to all sorts of doctors. It didn't help that it was common in his family to be sickly, and thus, making his already weak heart into a dangerously fragile organ.

He was fourteen when it had happened—not much older then her, she realized with a sickening feeling— only a year into high school, and his sister had been twelve. She was sickly, and usually required hospitalization. This caused quite a drainage on her father's rather healthy sum of income, but the family was entirely well off from their grandfather's small fortune he had left for them. Sai was on scholarship for all his education from academics, and school funds had never been an issue.

Hikaru learned she loved to wear dresses, and always had one regardless of the weather. She liked frills and lace and everything her mother liked too, the kind that made Hikaru gag with its bows and toulle skirts. Her favorite season was winter, and she had a pink scarf that she wore dutifully almost every cold day. Her favorite subject was literature, and her favorite color, blue.

Sai obviously cared for her a lot, and when she died, he was devastated. Surely the same went for his parents, both of whom had died in the crash. Sai had went through great trouble, and a rather large amount of surgeries, to keep his arms from becoming paralyzed. His heart was still trouble, and the doctors hardly let him out of their sight (Hikaru thought, to herself, that maybe Sai just didn't want to leave, too)

In the end, they were frail and easily broken with brittle bones, but Sai could move them. Sadly, not for meticulous things that required intense muscle concentration.

"Like drawing?" Hikaru had interrupted. She herself had a lack of skill in that department, her hands just not used to making quick brush strokes and fine, thin lines.

Sai smiled wryly. "That, among other things." He sighed. "But no, I was never the artist in my family. Only the scholar. My sister was the artist, she could paint anything she saw."

Hikaru noticed the dreamy, whimsical quality in his stratosphere eyes.

"Like what, then?" She asked curiously, tilting her head.

"Well," He tilted his chin thoughtfully. "Like playing Go."

"Go?" Hikaru echoed, suddenly forgetting what the word meant. She was suddenly reminded of the Haze go club Akari said she attended occasionally. "Like…the board game?"

Sai brightened almost childishly, leaning closer to her. "You know of it? Do you know the rules? Can you play?"

Hikaru blinked in surprise at the sudden bombardment of questions. "No…I just know of it. My grandfather plays."

The man deflated near immediately, with a deep sigh of depression. "What I wouldn't do for another game…"

Hikaru bit her lip in guilt, suddenly glimpsing the deep-seated passion for the game the hospital-stuck patient withheld.

—

—

—

"Eh?" Akari near fell out of her chair. "You want to come?"

Hikaru had certainly changed in the past few days.

Akari was sure it had to do with the community service she now attended to religiously—perhaps the girl's parents were right, and doing volunteer work shaped the soul into maturity—the girl in front of her had suddenly become more…daresay, responsible? Not only that, but her studies had improved as well. Especially in history (little did the young Fujisaki know of Sai's devotion to the subject, and his long rants on world history that Hikaru was constantly subjected to) and even a bit it literature.

When Akari had asked the other girl about it, Hikaru had looked contemplative, a look that had hardly ever been on the young girl's face before. She had shrugged, before saying evasively, it seems like an interesting topic. Which was somewhat funny, because it had hardly struck Hikaru as interesting in the past thirteen years of her life.

"To the Go club." Akari elaborated with a dry look on her face, as Hikaru nodded happily.

"Yes! I want to come!"

An hour later and Mitani was rubbing slow circles around his eyes, and TsuiTsui's patience—TsuiTsui, for gods sake. The boy had put up with Kaga and his unbearable attitude for nearly eight years of his life, his patience must be the size of the Pacific Ocean—had near run thin as he tried to explain the basis of Go for the last forty minutes. He had hardly made it past Komi, and had begun to explain Moku to the attractive young girl.

Sadly, she didn't seem to understand it at all.

"Alright, nevermind then. Here, I'm going to place these stones." He placed three black stones on the board on the points, in a triangular shape. Then, he took one of Hikaru's white stones, and placed it in the middle.

"Remember what I said? About how you don't want your stone to get captured?"

"Sort of…" Hikaru began with a questioning gaze.

"And do you remember how a stone is captured when it gets surrounded by the other color?"

"Yes?"

TsuiTsui nodded with triumph. "So how would you run away?"

Hikaru bit her lip as she studied the board. There were only four stones on, yet she looked as if she was contemplating the Mejin tournament finals.

Finally, she put her hand on the stone, and pulled it away with her finger from the cluster of black ones. "Like this!"

TsuiTsui near slapped his head onto the Goban.

"Maybe you should take a class…" He began feebly, unsure of what else to say.

Hikaru groaned.

Studying Go was a lot harder then she had previously thought. Not only was it hard, and required an attention span greater then she was capable of, it also had a lot to do with strategy. When she and Akari used to play around with the neighborhood boys, they used to have this immature game of war. Hikaru could barely understand their pitifully childish strategies, let alone the complex ones of Go. Maybe TsuiTsui was right, maybe she did need a professional to teach her.

She mulled this about as she exited the hospital, after a good three hours and then some of explaining her grade point average's abysmal all time low to Sai. She had kept the Go learning a secret, wanting to be good enough to challenge Sai. She supposed the man was good, seeing as though he admired the game so much.

She came across a Go salon, and entered after many moments of wavering about at the front entrance.

"Hello?" Said a woman with red hair and a nice smile. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah…I'm looking to learn Go." She began feebly, voice trembling a bit in embarassment.

"Learn Go?" The young woman repeated, as if surprised such a pretty young girl would wander into a Go Salon and ask for a teaching game, and why she wasn't out on some field in pigtails with pom-poms, cheering at a game and getting the attention of all the boys her age group.

Hikaru nodded sheepishly.

"Well, sign here..it's 400 yen to play."

"Four hundred?" Hikaru echoed with disbelief, before forking over the cash. "Who knew…" She muttered to herself, before filling in the requirements. She looked up suddenly, "What do I put here?"

"Skill level?" The clerk read aloud, as she near bent over to see over Hikaru's shoulder from in front of her behind the counter. "Well, just leave it blank for now."

Hikaru wandered around, suddenly nervous at the prospect of asking one of these old men for a game. When she was about to give up, she noticed a couple of boys her age in one of the corners.

"That Ochi! Who does he think he is? Just cause he's one of the top insei doesn't mean he gets to be a brat all the time…"

"Honestly, Waya." Said the other with more then a hint of exasperation. "Don't talk like that until you can do it yourself."

The red head, Waya, only folded his arms in petulant anger. "I will one day, Isumi. Just watch me."

The older boy, Isumi, only sighed. "Whatever you say."

"Uh—excuse me," Hikaru bounded in then, and the two near jumped when a pretty girl suddenly walked up to them.

To say Waya was angry would be an understatement. He had come to the Meijin's salon in hopes of finding the prodigal Touya Akira, of whom he had heard many rumors about. The boy, while not overtly cocky, hadn't done much to hide his skill either. Sadly, he was good knew it. Isumi tagged along to make sure Waya didn't do anything stupid. The younger boy could certainly be vindictive sometimes.

Anticlimactically, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, Akira wasn't even here. Apparently he was retaking a test in school, and had taken the whole afternoon to devote to his studies. Something about that rubbed Waya the wrong way. Not only did the other boy have everyone turning his way, he wasn't even studying Go!

Of course, that was when a young girl with blonde bangs had walked up to them. To say she was attractive would probably be the greatest understatement of his life. She had wide bottle green eyes and dash of pink for her smile, looking more beautiful then a monet-garden, even in her school uniform.

"I was hoping one of you guys could teach me how to play?" She motioned almost consciously, to the tables around them where old men were playing the game.

"I'm Waya," He began immediately, patting the chair her to pull up a chair to where he and Isumi were playing a game. "This is Isumi. And sure, we'll teach you how to play."

Hikaru brightened. "Really?"

Waya nodded. "Of course!"

(In retrospect, it should have occurred to him something would go wrong when an attractive girl came up to him asking him how to play Go)


	3. we've got Set them free but they don't

_don't fear! akira will make an appearance soon enough. hikaruxakira anyone? hikaruxwaya? isumi? OCHI?

* * *

_

Not even thirty minutes later and Waya was at wits end. The girl, while actually rather bright and smart, just didn't seem to have the capacity for Go. She was well rehearsed in the terms—TsuiTsui had repeated them to her over and over again—but hadn't the slightest what they meant. It was like teaching a dog how to tap-dance.

Although, to compare her to a dog would be a horrible example. For one, she was much too pretty to be a furry animal, and two, she certainly had quite the attitude and wouldn't do to be a patient, loyal animal.

Isumi finally took over.

"Now the center is called the—

"Tengen." Hikaru helpfully supplied, and Isumi grinned.

"Correct! It's the center. And these dots represent—

"Those are star points." She cut in again, with a wide, almost pleased smile. "Right?"

Isumi nodded. Waya wanted to roll his eyes. The man would be such a perfect teacher, all helpful and smiley and tolerant, always composed. By the end of Isumi's calm, methodical teaching, Hikaru actually learned the basics of Go.

"Oh…so this is a hane." She placed the two stones diagonal.

"It's a very good move when used correctly."

"I sure did learn a lot today!" Hikaru clapped her hands in happiness. She looked at both of them with gratitude. "You two are such great teachers!"

Waya blushed, and Isumi laughed.

She stood then, gathering her bag as she said something about her mother expecting her soon for dinner. Waya was surprised at her genuine interest in the game—regardless of the fact it didn't look like she had much talent for it.

"Thank you too very much," She began with a brilliant smile. "Waya-kun, Isumi-kun!"

If possible, Waya blushed even more fervently.

"Will you guys be here tomorrow?" She asked, hair sliding from where she had tucked it behind her ear, and framing her tanned face and rose colored lips.

Mouth dry, Waya wasn't sure what to say. "Yes—I mean, no! I mean," He quickly elaborated once he realized how much of a fool he was looking like. "We don't usually come to this salon, but if you go to the one past the supermarket near the new building their putting up, we're always there."

"Supermarket?" She echoed. "The one connected to the mall?"

"That's the one!"

"Okay," She gave them a thumbs up and a cute smile. "I'll see you there, then!"

When she left, Waya sunk into his seat with a pleased grin, Isumi watching him with more then a bit of amusement.

—

-—

—

Hikaru's face was scrunched in the deepest concentration it had ever been, as she slowly curled the whipped cream in a winding patter across the surface of the cupcake. They were red velvet, and she was planning on bringing one to Sai, so she had been certain to put her best efforts into it.

Akari was impressed with her determination in the class she considered to be the, "joke class" of the day, followed quickly by the other joke class (math), which actually was a more required choice of curriculum.

"Looking good, Shindou-chan!" Said sensei, as she passed by their small kitchenette.

Hikaru looked up, face smeared in a combination of cream and strawberry paste. "Thanks, Sensei!" She smiled, as she added the chocolate syrup in long criss-crosses.

"I'm impressed." Akari voiced with amusement, as she leaned over the counter to get a better look at Hikaru's creations. "These look great. Who knew you could be such a baker when you were taking the class seriously?"

"I'm not taking this class seriously." Hikaru rolled her eyes, leveling her eye with the cupcake in question, eying it and the amount of cream on the others. "I'm giving these to someone."

"To who?" Akari blinked, suddenly interested. "Potential love interest?"

"Definitely not." Hikaru answered with honest finality. Sai was certainly no love interest.

"If you say so." Akari waggled her brows, but more in jest. Hikaru was being serious about her lack of romantic interest in this person—her best friend could see it in her wide, determined emerald eyes.

Class ended, and Hikaru joined her in the go club again. This time, she actually did quite well—compared to her abysmal start—and TsuiTsui, and even Mitani, seemed a quite impressed with her. Akari pouted as her friend got all the attention, but didn't voice her annoyance. Eventually, Hikaru headed to the bathroom and Akari took her place in front of Mitani, sending the orange-haired boy a quick little smile.

They played a couple hands. Mitani playing some light Shidou go as Akari tried her hardest against him, as TsuiTsui inspected the game in front of him that he and Hikaru had played.

"She could be really good." He decided upon, after much consideration. "Why don't you ask her to join?"

Akari guffawed. "Seriously? Hikaru-chan? She wouldn't like Go." The girl insisted. "I'm surprised she even has this much interest in it."

"She seems like she enjoys it." Mitani intoned.

"I suppose," Akari worded carefully. For some reason, she felt Hikaru's interest in the game wasn't quite her own.

It had been a two months since the start of Hikaru's volunteer work and the inevitable change in the girl's personality. Subtle changes, she was a little more studious, and spent a little less time daydreaming. She worked hard in cooking class, and actually made an effort to look presentable every morning, instead of waking up haphazard with her bedhead—admittedly, it was quite a cute bedhead—and near tripping into the classroom.

"Err—Akari-chan, what do you think?"

Akari turned around, about to ask, "about what?" when she caught sight of Hikaru framed in the doorway, and near dropped the stone she was holding. All her life, she and Hikaru had known each other. Pre-school consisted of perpetual tea dresses their mothers but them in, these large frilly frocks with an unhealthy amount of ribbons and lace, sparkly red Dorothy shoes and curled pigtails like Shirley Temple. Ever since then, Hikaru hissed and spat vehemently at the mere thought of tights, and had diverted into her stage of jean skirts, shorts, and jeans, never wearing dresses.

To see her in one now, after all these years, was quite strange.

The young girl had her hair down, and an embarrassed look on her face. Her blonde bangs framed her rosy cheeks, the rest of the hair smoothed back with a headband with a rose made of cloth on it. She had on a sundress with small straps, a ribbon placed on her chest and buttons that went down until they stopped abruptly where the skirt puffed into a mass of ruffles, that ended before her knees and socks down to her delicate heels.

Akari remembered the dress so well because it was one of her Sunday bests.

"So that's why you borrowed it." The brunette muttered slyly. "And who are you going to meet, again?"

"N—No one!" The blushing girl immediately retorted, grabbing her bag in haste, and her cupcakes with a little more refrain. "I just…wanted to dress up."

Akari sent her the, "Don't talk bullshit" look, but said nothing else, only smirking in obvious all-knowing ability, as she placed another stone down.

"I'm going now!" She called to the three, before speeding out the door.

The hospital wasn't far, and although it was crisp in the middle of fall, Hikaru shook off the cold easily. She had decided to wear a dress today, even though she wasn't quite sure why. Something about the way Sai spoke so fondly of his young sister made Hikaru want to help him cherish her memories. Even though she had never met the girl, she could see the impact she had on Sai, and had decided it wouldn't kill her to wear a dress or two sometimes.

And anyway, the look on Sai's face was priceless.

"You look like a perfect young lady!" The childish patient gasped in delight. "And are those cupcakes?"

She wordlessly handed them over, and the boy near squealed in delight when he held one up delicately, eying the perfect lines of syrupy chocolate and the raspberry on the top.

"Did you make these yourself?" He asked her kindly. For how young he was, Sai always seemed to act wiser beyond his years. Calling her young lady only magnified this.

She felt heat rise to her cheeks, and tried to blame it on the walk over to the hospital. She sat at her normal chair, across from the bed, trying not to blush any further. "Yeah." And then, hurriedly, "It's not a big deal…our home-ec class was making them anyway, and I figured hospital food was abysmal so I decided to bring you some—

"Hikaru-chan is so nice to me!" He smiled in pure bliss, as he bit into one. And then, he tilted his head. "I wasn't aware you owned a dress. The way you spoke of them with such loathing… I figured you burned everyone you ever owned."

Hikaru only shrugged vaguely, a glimmering smile on her face. "Well, I decided that they weren't too bad. They're really in style right now, and I'm all about the latest fashion."

He certainly could tell, although perhaps her style wasn't the most orthodox. She had once come with an indecently short skirt and knee socks that were neon blue and black, with boots that came up mid-shin that were fluffy and made from sheepskin. He also noticed that nearly every shirt and sweat-shirt she wore had some sort of allusion to the number five on it.

"Well I'm glad!" Sai clapped his hands. "You look just like a little ballerina!"

Hikaru ignored the comment entirely, near sliding onto the cool surface of Sai's table.

"So tell me," The boy prompted. "How's school?"

"Horrible." The girl answered without pause. "Absolutely wretched—

And she closed her mouth when she realized her choice in words.

"I mean, bad! It sucks!" She amended, before Sai could make a dry comment on her sudden expanded vocabulary. "I can't stand school. You don't learn anything except for how to entertain yourself for long periods of time. Like today, Natsu taught me how to make a paper airplane out of a gum wrapper, instead of learning how to solve logarithms—

But her rant was to no avail, as Sai his smile as he turned his face to watch the colored leaves behind the window. "Who was the ruler of the Maurya Dynasty in 304 B.C.E known to have—

"Ashoka the Great." Hikaru interrupted. "He converted India to Buddhism."

Sai nodded with a smirk. "So you _are _learning after all."

"Wha—hey! You tricked me!" Hikaru pointed her finger to the innocent looking boy in front of her, who blinked big eyes at her.

"I didn't trick you, you answered it all on your own!"

The girl huffed exasperatedly. "Whatever." She scoffed.

"How unlady like!" The long-haired patient scolded without anger, more teasing then anything. "Now, let's start on your vocabulary today…"

—

—

—

"Cute, right?" Hikaru gave the skirts a twirl, as she studied herself in the mirror. A new shop had opened up in the mall—a boutique, really—which promoted old French fashion, with frills and lace abound. At first Akari was sure Hikaru would dismiss the store entirely, heading on to the more instyle shops down the corner, but instead, the two toned haired girl had near pulled her in.

Akari studied the dress in question. It was a light shade of pink that the first year was sure Hikaru, if this had been a couple months ago, would have wretched at. Now, she was staring at it adoringly, lifting up the skirt and giving a slight curtsey before spinning around again, skirt pouring with her. It ended before the knee, and gave the appearance of a ballerina-inspired mini dress.

"It's very cute." She agreed. "But I didn't think it was really your style. I always figured you'd hate dancing and being a ballerina in general—

"I do." Interrupted the girl.

"But you've certainly changed." Akari mused, as she tilted her head to better inspect the bow at the back. "You're more…girly."

"Not really." As if to prove her point, she wedged a finger into her ear unceremoniously.

"You are!" The auburn-haired of the two confirmed quickly. "You used to hate dresses, and only wore what everyone else did Now you've got your own style, you bake cupcakes and actually put _effort _in them…and you play go!" Akari was near yelling in her rant at this point. "Go! Honestly! I never figured you to be the Go type, let alone the _studious_—

"Hey!"

"Type in general!" She ended on her feet, a strange gleam in her eyes. "It's a boy, isn't it? There's a boy involved."

"There is no boy involved!" She repeated in vexation. "I swear!"

"Oh?" Crowed her best friend, as she circled the blushing blonde. "Are you sure about that?"

Hikaru stayed silent.

Finally, Akari figured she was telling the truth, and dropped the interrogation to flop bonelessly onto one of the plush chairs in the store.

"Well someone's involved." She commented, certainty almost palpable.

Hikaru bit her lip. "Maybe…"

"Who?" Akari leaned closer. "A love interest?"

"Absolutely not!" She began wrathfully. "Just a good friend of mine! I guess I've just been…inspired to try to be a girl a little more." She admitted quietly. And then with a roll of her eyes, "That doesn't mean I'm dropping any of my bad habits any time soon."

Akari sighed in displeasure.

"Anyway, I think I'm going to buy this." Hikaru admired herself in the mirror again, before going back into the changing room to get back into her jeans and knit shirt.

She paid for the garmet before parting ways with her auburn-haired friend, hinting to a prior engagement she had. While curious, Akari only shrugged it off, heading to the food court where she was meeting Mitani.

"Sorry!" Hikaru called, as she entered the Go Salon. "Did I keep you waiting?"

Waya shook his head, trying to hide his delight. He wondered how Hikaru could make skinny jeans, a pair of boots, and a knitted sweater look so cute.

"Not at all." He insisted, with a pleasant smile. "Nigiri?" And then, he added, "And how many stones do you want?"

"Three!" She said with pride, the stone count had lessened considerably since the she had met Waya at this particular salon some months ago.

"So why are you so intent on getting decent at Go, anyway?" Asked the almost-pro, with genuine interest.

"A friend of mine really wants to play." She sighed. "But you see…he can't! So I'm trying to get good so that he can play me occasionally. And I want to be a challenge for him!"

As she placed a few more stones down, unsure of the flow of the game, she frowned. "I think he's very good though, so I don't think that'll happen."

"Is he a pro?"

"I think, if he got the chance, he could be."

"Got the chance?" Waya echoed, asking questions more for bemusement then actual interest.

"Uh, yeah." Hikaru shook her head, before pursing her lips. "Anyway, hold on a sec!"

Waya looked up.

"I'm confused again." The girl admitted sheepishly.

Waya sighed.

The next time Hikaru waltzed into the hospital, there was a determined look on her face.

"Sai," She began, pulling out a chair near his bed to watch the older boy staring pensively out of the window. "I think you need to get out."

His mouth opened a bit, and his eyes grew wide as he looked at her.

"I mean," She elaborated. "I know you can. I don't understand why you don't! There's gardens, and the cafeteria, and I dunno, there's a lot of places to go around here I don't understand why you hole yourself up in this room!"

Sai made a face, before sighing. "I guess I'm just not adjusting all that well." He admitted. "I used to be able to do whatever I wanted, and now… my options are so limited."

He shrugged. "I guess I've never felt like leaving this room because I know there's no where else besides this hospital I could go to."

She tilted her head, smooth dark hair crossing her shoulder and pooling on the bed. "Why not?"

"I'm not allowed." He said simply. "Too dangerous. My heart could stop and they wouldn't know."

"That's stupid!" Hikaru pumped her fist. "And anyway, don't they have like, fake hearts now and stuff? Couldn't they just pull the glass out?"

"It isn't that simple, Hikaru-chan." He shook his head slowly.

Hikaru watched the defeated boy with varying degrees of anger and hopelessness. She wanted to help him so bad… it sucked to see him moping about, not understanding how terribly fucked his life was. Sai, she had learned, used to be the studious son with the world at his fingertips, he was wealthy, and he was smart, and he was going to go places. Now he was a kid with a lot of money and no family, sitting in the back of a hospital, his only dream to play go.

Hikaru bit her lip and scowled in irritation.

She had been trying and trying to get better for Sai, but she knew there was no way she'd be anything compared to the teenager before her. Sai would appreciate the effort, sure, but she was certain there was something more she could do for him…

Sai had taken to looking out the window again, his hair long enough to reach mid arm, a little shorter then hers, but the same color and almost the same cut…

She clapped her hands.

Hikaru Shindou had the most brilliant idea of her lifetime.

"Sai." She said, and he turned his head back towards her.

"I want you to be a girl."

* * *

_does this not remind you of the parent trap? god i love that movie..._

ANYWAY. PAIRINGS, ANYONE?


	4. last long, they're good for one jump,

He was still a fifteen year old boy, but he could definitely pass for a girl.

Hikaru wanted to blame it on his feminine features, his small chin, pert nose and big eyes. That way, when she justified their uncanny resemblance, it meant that he was girly, not that she was manly or anything.

They had decided on one of Hikaru's five shirts—she was so dismayed to find that he fit rather well in it. Was she really that flat?—and a pair of long cargo shorts.

As Sai watched himself in the mirror, so surprised with how much he looked like Hikaru, the young girl was bemoaning her stick-like legs, and thin, ungirly body from the corner of the room.

"I mean, I always knew I was kind of boyish…and before I met you, I would have taken that as a compliment! But now…" She kicked the back of her chair, dressed in hospital garb, looking at her black and blue knees sticking out from the end of the gown.

"I—" Sai flushed, studying his now dyed hair in the mirror. "I don't really know if this is a good idea…"

"C'mon Sai!" Hikaru leapt from her chair to walk into the bathroom with him.

The two of them looked like twins, blonde bangs cut right above the eyes, big eyes (although, his were amethyst and hers were emerald) and long hair. Of course, she had on some ugly paste-green hospital gown, and he was dressed as a questionable girl-boy. But seeing him blink at her in the mirror really sent her reeling.

They really weren't related?

"How long have you been waiting to go outside?" She reasoned with him. "To play Go—

"I can't even hold the stones properly!" Sai protested exasperatedly. "This is a bad idea. Let's change back…"

"No!" Hikaru insisted. "It'll just be for a few hours, anyway. And you can come right back! The hospital doesn't close 'till nine, anyway…"

Hikaru mentally groaned.

She had sort of assumed that Sai's intense need to see the outside world would sort of over power his goody-two-shoes outlook on life—she was wrong. They seemed pretty neck and neck. She had been playing the devil's advocate for most of the afternoon, and she had succeeded in getting Sai to grudgingly admit that he really did want to go to a Go Salon at least once more—and then from there she just had to get him to cut his hair (that was a hassle) and dye his bangs (even more of a hassle) and try on some clothes.

Now…just a little more…

"You know," She said evilly. "I heard of this guy, Touya Akira—he's my age. They say he's the new up and coming thing. His father's the Meijin—

"Touya Meijin!" Sai exclaimed. "Of course I've heard of him! But I didn't know he had a son…"

"Anyway," Hikaru interrupted with an eye roll. Sai was so predictable. "His dad's got a salon near my, uh—near my dentist—and they say he hangs around there a lot." By they, she meant Waya and Isumi, and by dentist, she meant Go tutor. But Sai wouldn't know the difference.

"Really?" He breathed.

Ah, hook and sinker.

Sai might be really mature like a fifty-year old man, and he might know that it was dangerous to leave the hospital walls, and they could get in all sorts of trouble, and it was a totally immature and irresponsible thing to do—but hey, he was a fifteen year old boy, too. A poor kid stuck in this ugly little hospital room for the unforeseeable future. And that sucked a hell of a lot more then staring down the nose of the hospital's dean of medicine.

And he also was a sucker for talent.

And, from what she had heard about the studious, nerdy Touya Akira, he was nothing but pure talent.

"Really." She nodded.

The door opened then, and the nurse walked in.

"Sai-chan? Hikaru-chan? Where are you—

She turned the corner into the bathroom, where the two teenagers stood sheepishly.

She looked nonplussed. "What are you doing out of bed?" She began imperiously.

It took Hikaru a moment to realize that the woman was staring straight at her—the one in the hospital gown. "Well…" She gulped. "I was—I was just uh—

Nurse Brenda almost fainted when she caught sight of Hikaru's hair, pointing wildly at her blonde fringe. "Sai! What on God's green Earth did you do to your hair? Is this what you two troublemakers have been up to? Oh… when Doctor Takahashi hears of this…"

"I'm sorry!" Sai stepped up, looking and sounding pitifully like Hikaru. "It's my fault! I was trying to make Sai more, ahem, _fashionable_—

Hikaru sent him a skewering look for his whiny voice and faux gasping. She _did not _act like that.

"—And he always said he liked my hair… so…" Sai looked down, doing a rather admirable impression of her crestfallen look. "I just wanted him to be a little normal…"

Nurse Brenda's eyes softened as she took in the two, as what she saw to be a close friendship between a young ward and an adorable little girl. "Alright." She sighed. "But get back in bed Sai. I don't want you over-exerting yourself."

Hikaru nodded numbly, and trudged back into the bed.

Her face went a little green as the Nurse hooked her onto the heart monitor, and Sai gave her a sympathetic look as she squeamishly wiggled on the bed.

"And you, Shindou-san," She turned around. "Don't you have somewhere to be? I thought you said you were only staying until one—it's almost three now. You're parents must be worried."

Sai startled at the attention, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh—yeah… I'll be back after dinner though!"

The nurse rolled her eyes.

"No more trouble now, you two." She said over her shoulder as she exited, grabbing her clipboard and shutting the door.

Hikaru started wheezing. "She stabbed my arm!" Said the girl with a crazed look. "This thing is like, freaking itchy…"

Sai wavered at the foot of the bed, shifting his weight between Hikaru's beat up striped trainers. "If you want to switch back—

"Hell no!" She cried aloud.

Sai gave her that, 'don't-use-that-language' look, but Hikaru ignored it.

"We did _not _just go through all of this for you to get cold feet!" She leaned over the bed, to where all of her stuff was gathered on a table near the bed. She grabbed a hat—of course, with the number 5—and threw it at Sai, who caught it with a fumble.

He tucked most of his long hair into it, looking even more like a boy now.

"There we go." She smiled triumphantly at his new visage. "Now that really completes the look."

"So you'll be okay for a couple hours?" Sai asked unsteadily.

Hikaru nodded, propping her feet up on the bar at the end of the bed. "Course! Your TV's got like, a bajillion channels."

Sai didn't look convinced, but Hikaru shooed him out anyway.

It was strange, making his way through the corridors without being hooked up to a machine, no Nurse guiding him through with a petulant voice. No one made a fuss when he crossed into the main lobby, didn't steer away from the double doors of freedom. Instead, the clerk at the front desk waved him goodbye, and he waved back.

The sun was warm, as it was when he felt it on his cheeks. But it was different—more real—without a window to block it out. Everything felt real, like his time in that singular room was just a dream.

This loud, colorful life outside the hospital was the real world, the screeching of cars and the yelping of children as they ran by, balloons in the sky and changing leaves on the trees.

He wanted to run right through the cross walk, take a big jump back onto the sidewalk and kick the fire hydrant a couple times, but he held himself back. He was still Fujiwara Sai, physically ill patient, with a serious heart condition. The last thing he needed was for him to actually trigger some sort of reaction and die out here.

Instead, he boarded the train station, intent on following Hikaru's directions to the Meijin's Go Salon. Even if he didn't manage to find Touya Akira there, he could still enjoy a couple hours with he patrons.

The metro was much like it was a few years ago, but Sai relished the rustle of people, the almost closterphobic closeness to the fellow riders, and the abominable stench that presided deeply near the trashcans. Most of this would have bothered him at one point in his life, but now, he only closed his eyes and smiled, basking in the freedom of public transportation.

Sai was ridiculously giddy by the time he had made it to the front of the building in which the salon was located.

It had been quite a long time since he had played go—and even though he spent most of his days watching games on the television, or thinking about strategies, or even reading books on Go, he hadn't actually had a chance to play _go _in such a long time that it actually made him mournful to think of all the time lost.

His greatest ambition—the hand of god—was still looming there, far in the distance, away from his reaching fingers.

He couldn't thank Hikaru enough for the opportunity to further his dream.

Sai adjusted the cap on his head, tucking his hair in and studying himself in a passing window reflection as he made his way to the elevator. He certainly could pass for a boy, with the loose shirt and the cargo pants. But he had to admit, he did sort of have a girl face.

The thought depressed him for a split second, until the electronic doors to the Meijin's Go Salon opened, and he almost felt his heart really, seriously give out.

The clatter of Go stones on the goban was sort of like a dull thrumming music, the smell of the wood, and the itching feeling of finally being where he wanted to sort of overwhelmed him for a moment, and the redhead posing as the clerk of the Salon paused in refilling the tea.

"Oh, hello there!" She smiled, the grin not faltering even when she noted how young he was, as if she was used to younger than usual customers. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm looking to play a game…" He began awkwardly, suddenly unsure of what to do.

She nodded, brushing her polka-dotted apron and leaned over the counter. "Write your name down here. Is this your first time here?"

Sai nodded slowly. "I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing…"

"Oh, well write down your go level here."

Sai peered at the list closely. He supposed that, as Sai, he should perhaps put 1K, but since he was posing as Hikaru, should he put 30K? Would it even matter? He doubted a girl like Hikaru would ever frequent a Go Salon in her lifetime, so perhaps it actually didn't matter…

"Do you not know?" The shopkeeper asked, a bit unsurprised. It was probably his youthful appearance. She grabbed another pencil and penned in 30K for him. "That's alright, a lot of first time players don't understand the rating. Don't worry about it."

Sai grumbled silently. _First time player?_

But instead of saying anything aloud, he only nodded silently.

"I'm glad some of the younger generation is taking an interest in Go!" The clerk said with a smile. "You'd be surprised at how many kids your age have been in here lately. Gosh, its surprising…" She looked at him shrewdly. "Actually, you look a bit familiar…"

Sai paled. Had she seen Hikaru at a grocery store? Maybe she was her math teacher? Babysitter? Next door neighbor? As Sai had a slight mini panic, unsure of how he was supposed to act on, he immediately noticed a young boy sitting by himself at a goban.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, jogging the woman out of thought. "He looks young! Can I play him?"

This seemed to effectively loosen the woman off of her trail of thought, as she immediately floundered to come up with the right words. "Oh—He, uh, well he's not really a beginner, uh…"

But the young boy had already noticed that Sai had been talking about him, and stood from his chair to walk over to them.

"Looking for an opponent?" Said the green haired boy with a smile. "I'll play you."

"Oh—but Akira-kun!" The woman, now identified as Ichikawa by her nametag glistening in the lighting, began with a bit of panic. "He's not—

Sai grinned with exhilaration. So this was the Touya Akira that Hikaru was talking about—the son of the Meijin. He would be, at least, an intrigue to play.

Before Ichikawa could effectively warn Akira away from playing a "beginner" Sai intervened. "Hi!" He chirped, as he imagined Hikaru would. "I'm Shindou Hikaru. I'm in sixth grade!" …Even to him posing as a girl in grade school, that sounded a bit stupid.

"Touya Akira, I'm in sixth grade too!" The boy introduced himself. "Why don't we go to the back?"

"Wah—hold on!" Ichikawa waved him over. "You haven't paid yet! It's 500 to play!"

Sai gaped. Prices sure had gone up since he had last been in a go salon. Would he have enough for the subway back to the hospital?

"This is his first time, right?" Said Akira pleasantly. "Why don't we give him a break?"

Ichikawa swooned. "Ah, well, if Akira says so…"

"Thanks!" Sai replied good naturedly. Hah, so being seen as an amateur had paid off…

As the two settled down, Akira smiled at him. Sai studied his face, hopefully not too intensely. He didn't look very much like the Meijin. However, not seeing the man in his youth, Sai really had no way to judge. He had met the man once at a convention, back when Sai was still zealous (although really, he still was) over his passion, and dedicated to becoming a professional after college, and perhaps after convincing his parents. The hospital ward wondered if perhaps that dream could have ever come true.

He supposed he'd never find out.

"So how good are you?" Akira asked conversationally.

Keeping up appearances, Sai answered, "I'm not sure. But I'm pretty strong, I think."

Huh. That sounded like something Hikaru would say.

"Not sure, but strong?" Akira laughed. "Ah, well why don't you put four or five stones down?"

Against a child younger then him? Sai flushed, but bit his tongue. No, it wouldn't do to say that, not while posing as Hikaru, anyhow. "I don't need a handicap." He pointed out, as naively as possible. "We're the same age!"

"Uh—"flabbergasted, and obviously not used to dealing with kids his age, Akira blinked. "Well… okay…"

Behind them, a couple of old men chuckled over Sai's supposed naivety.

"Okay, why don't you go first."

"Sure, I'll be black." He could say anything to that without giving something away.

He dipped his hand in the bowl, suddenly worried. His hand was shaking, and holding the stones between his the tips of his fingers caused such a strain he switched to his thumb with a certain amount of sorrow. It seemed he'd never be able to hold them as he used to…

"Forgive me," Sai said before he placed the first stone down, already aware of his physical handicap. "I play a bit slow."

He noticed Akira's face twitch at the way he hold the stones, as if figuring out how deeply of a beginner he was. Sai could only hope the boy wouldn't play easier because of it. It wouldn't do to waste his day out on an easy game.

No, perhaps he wasn't.

As the game progressed, Akira seemed more and more surprised with his expert play, and, much to Sai's pleasure, realized with no amount of small shock that Sai had been leading the game the whole time. The boy had potential, and there was nothing Sai valued more in the world then that. There were thousands of professionals who spent years honing their skill, and Sai would much rather play Akira then any of them, if only to be able to predict what Akira would be able to do in the future.

He broke off from skillfully maneuvering the upper corner out of Akira's clutches, and placed a stone off on the other side, as a way to see how Akira would react.

Akira noticed it as a way of measuring his ability, and paled.

—

"All done?" The redhead chirped from where she was chatting to a bald headed customer as Sai walked past.

"Yup!" He nodded, adjusting his cap some more. He felt as if the long ends of his hair were always slipping out.

"So? How was it?" She smiled congenially.

"I guess it's too early for me to play people." Sai sighed, attempting to flex his sore hands. He hadn't even held them correctly, holding the stones limp between his thumb and forefinger, and yet they were shaking considerably and ached. "I'm really slow and now I'm worn out!"

Ichikawa gave him a sympathetic look, as if she expected that all along. "Oh, I know!" She clapped her hands.

She pulled out a flier from underneath her desk. "This is for a Children's Go Tournament next week! Some of the strongest kids around the country will be there."

Sai blinked at it with intense longing. He'd love to see children with a passion for the game… but… next week he'd be having physical therapy, and would be switching on to a new antibiotic. He'd most likely be too swamped with doctors to even attempt escaping.

"I'll think about it." He voiced aloud, instead of his actual fears and concerns. "Well, thanks a lot for today!"

"Please come again!"

As the door slid shut, he could hear the bald man saying, "Ah, to compete against Touya-sensei.. he's fifty years too early!"

Sai smirked to himself.


	5. then they're done Base of my

_About pairings, I still haven't decided. Thanks for the feedback! Sai seems to be the top choice though, which I find a bit weird, as they now look alike haha. But I suppose its all up to interpretation.

* * *

_

"Well?" Hikaru chirped exuberantly, sitting up from where she was lounging with her feet propped up, watching a fashion program.

Sai noticed she looked extremely comfortable and unabashedly entertained by loafing around for a couple hours.

"How was it?" She smiled, green eyes bright.

Sai couldn't even put into words how much gratitude he felt for the young girl right then. She had done so much for him… had been such a fantastic friend and confidant, had turned her whole life around to visit him day in and day out, and had even essentially leant him her body for the day… leant him her freedom.

He could almost feel his eyes water, even though he didn't want to admit it.

"Sai?" She sat up, wrenching out the IV with some amount of discomfort. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." He looked away quickly, blushing. "It's just… thank you."

Hikaru gave him an almost blinding smile, crossing her legs and sitting up on the bed. "No, thank you! This has been the most relaxing afternoon I've had! I always have to do stuff, like ballet or gymnastics or school work… it was great to have a chance to just sit around and relax, you know?"

Sai nodded, even though he really didn't know. Perhaps staying cooped up in here had made him hate that.

"So? You haven't told me how it went." She propped her elbows on her legs, looking up at him, chin in her hands. The blonde bangs framed her soft cheeks in a way they really didn't on his.

"It—It was great!" He beamed, sitting on the bed. "I got a great game in today."

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah, I got a flier for a Go Tournament…" He pulled it out of his pocket, holding the wrinkled edges with distinct longing.

Hikaru pouted. "Well, when is it?"

"Next week."

"I'm not doing anything next week!" Hikaru said cheerily. "We could switch again!"

Sai gaped. "You—you would do this again?"

Hikaru blinked at him. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

"I—I just…" Unable to comprehend, Sai could only open and close his mouth, an incomprehensible, almost overwhelming swell of happiness rolling over him, spreading from his gut all the way to his furiously beating heart. "I just didn't think…

"Didn't think what?" Hikaru laughed, swiping the paper out from his hands. "Huh, the nineteenth?" She pondered for a moment. "I'm sure I could be free for a couple hours."

Sai sighed dejectedly, and Hikaru immediately careened over worriedly. "Eh? Sai, what's wrong?"

"I'm getting tests done all next week." He said glumly. "I'll be switching antibiotics—I've always been sickly, you know, and having this heart condition doesn't help—so there'll be doctors watching me all the time. Not to mention I'll be getting injections…"

He gave a sidelong glance to Hikaru's paling face. Not only would she hate to get shots with needles, but taking unnecessary medicine was dangerous to her health. There was no way Sai would let her stay on a week like that.

Hikaru floundered for a way to get around this, some sort of compromise she could come up with. She wasn't really known for being terribly smart, but she sure did have her ingenuity.

"Well…" She thought aloud. "I could go… and tell you all about it?"

"Really?" Sai cried in happiness. "You would?"

"Sure!" Hikaru answered, surprised at his outburst.

"Do you think you could see if this boy is there?" Sai leaned over, startling her further with his sudden exuberance. "He's a bit on the taller side—about my height—and he's got green hair and its kind of longish—

Hikaru wasn't sure what to say, so she stayed and listened to Sai blabber on about this other kid her age that he met at some Go Salon—and, to Hikaru's horror, it turned out to be the one she frequented…had anyone noticed him?—and his exciting adventures he had today.

By the end of it, it was already time to go, and Hikaru's mother had blown up her phone with a magnitude of worried calls, and Hikaru was figuring that it was about time for her to leave.

The next week, Hikaru spent most of the day attempting to figure out how to get around this problem.

Sai was having tests the whole week, sure. But certainly, they could sneak him out for at least half an hour? It couldn't hurt… and Hikaru had been around long enough to know that Nurse Brenda checked on the boy about once every two hours, so that left plenty of time. However, she had never been around for Sai switching antibiotics…could it really be all that different?

She pondered over this as she mulled down the street, on her way to the new Go Salon at the mall where Waya and Isumi attempted to teach her Go.

She had been kind of making progress. She could solve most simple life and death problems, and, with a heapful of handicaps and some judiciously easy shidou go from Isumi, could attempt a meager win, she couldn't do much else. Hikaru sighed. Go was _hard_. She would bet that Sai made it look fluent and easy, but to people like her—who's natural gift for it had to sort of be pulled and wrenched out of her—it was harder then a front ariel and half twist combined!

"Well, you've been making progress." Said Isumi with a kind smile.

Hikaru glumly took his half assed praise. Isumi only said things like that because he was a nice, charming kind of guy. From beside him, Waya snorted.

"I'd like to see you try learning Go from scratch." Hikaru snapped at him, although it was without heat. More or less she was more disappointed with herself. Was it really that hard? Or was it simply just downright impossible for her to learn?

Waya leaned back in his chair, which was to Hikaru's right, observing the game. Hikaru was actually pretty good, but he would never admit it out loud. If he did so, then maybe she would be satisfied with whatever reason she even spent her time playing Go in the first place, and then she wouldn't have any need to meet them every couple days, and _that,_ was a bad outcome.

So Waya only sniffed, folded his arms in the sleeves of his hoodie, and said nothing, sipping out of his water bottle.

Hikaru rolled her eyes.

"Isumi-san," She began slowly. "Have you ever heard of a boy named Touya Akira?"

Isumi looked up, and Waya almost spat out the water he was drinking.

"What about him?" Said Isumi with laconic speed, as Waya, at the same time, leapt in near spiteful outrage, "Don't tell me you're learning Go for him!"

Hikaru looked flabbergasted and a bit appalled at his outburst. "Wha—why would you say that? I don't even know the guy!"

There was color to her cheeks, so Waya cut in snidely, "Yeah? So why'd you ask about him then?"

"It was just a question!" She huffed. "If you must now, a friend of mine is… interested in his father, I guess. I heard he had a son, so I just assumed you'd have heard of him. He _is _around our age and all…"

"Heard of him!" If Hikaru hadn't been so angry at him, she'd be amused at how Waya was spitting like a cat at the very thought of this 'Touya Akira' he always went on about. "Of course I've heard about him! That arrogant guy is the center of like, everyone's world around here! Honestly, he's not that great!"

Isumi seemed to effectively calm the younger boy down after a few moments.

"Touya Akira is a rising protégé." Isumi explained calmly. "He's quite good, especially for his age. He could have taken the pro exams this year, but he postponed it for his studies."

He gave a sidelong glance to Waya, who seemed mostly unimpressed at his explanation of what could possibly be his arch-nemesis (personally, Hikaru had always thought it was that Ochi guy he always rambled on about, but Hikaru was learning that Waya was quite vindictive, and seemed to dislike many people). "Waya doesn't like him much because he thinks that Touya doesn't take Go seriously enough, and is much too confident in his abilities."

"It's like we're all beneath him or something!" Growled Waya irritably.

From what Sai had explained of the guy, he seemed pretty good natured.

Perhaps Sai just wasn't a good judge of character?

Hikaru couldn't grill them for more information, however, as it was dinner time and her mother would be quite unhappy if Hikaru was late for the second time that week, so she bid them farewell and headed back home.

She still hadn't found an acceptable compromise for Sai's dilemma.

—

The whole week, Sai looked particularly pale, almost ghastly in appearance. Even in the afternoon light, which usually cast a healthy glow to the pallor of his snow colored face, he looked wan and sickly.

"What's wrong?" Hikaru half whispered, dejectedly pulling up a chair to the limp boy's bed. A bit of her was worried sick that she had done this to him—that the outside had done this to him.

"It's just me adjusting to the new medicine." Sai said with a soft smile, allaying her fears. "Actually, I'm better then usual."

"Really?" Hikaru perked up, swinging her legs. Perhaps he was, as he had noticed her candy floss pink leggings, but had yet to say anything to their outrageous color. Whenever he let her outfits slide, it meant he was either in a good mood, or in good health. Hikaru hoped on the latter.

Sai nodded. "Sometimes, when I switch medicine, I get so sick I can't stay awake." And, afterwards he pulled his hand from where it was limp next to him, letting it sway frailly in the air. "Sometimes I can't even move."

Hikaru tilted her head, long hair sliding over her shoulder. "So this is good?"

"This is good." Sai agreed.

Hikaru smiled, pleased. Maybe going outside had been good for him.

When she had come in, Hikaru had noticed something she found both amusing and cute.

"Do you really sleep with your head under the covers?" She asked slyly, giggling when he flushed a bit pink. At least his cheeks were getting a bit of color to them.

"I—" He flushed further. "Only when I don't feel good!" He protested, as Hikaru covered her mouth to attempt to stop her laughing.

"You look like—like a lump with hair!"

"That's not funny!" He protested hotly, but Hikaru didn't stop until Nurse Brenda came in to see what all the commotion was.

Hikaru left some time later, feeling better for seeing Sai at least once this week. But Sai was right—this week would be a bad week. Even though Sai said he was better then usual, the Go Tournament was still a couple days away, and most likely Sai wouldn't be able to make it.

Hikaru made a pinched face, as she entered her house.

"Hikaru-chan!"

She was so deep in thought she almost didn't hear her mother.

"Sorry," She back pedaled down the stairs. "What is it?"

"Nothing!" Said her mother, looking distinctly pleased. "Your report card came in!"

Hikaru paled considerably, feeling as if the floor had dropped beneath her. The dreaded day had come, and she hadn't even planned for it! Usually, she spent the entire week beforehand doing make up work to raise her failing grades. She'd hole herself up in Akari's room as the other girl drilled her on their biology vocabulary, in a futile attempt to get her prepared for the test that was almost always the next day. How could she have forgotten? Her grades! What would her parents say?

"Hikaru, we're so impressed!" Her mother gushed at the kitchen table.

Hikaru herself was a bit impressed.

Her typically flopping History and Literature grades were actually high, and her Home Economics was perfect. Her math was still a bit lagging, but even her Science grade had increased marginally.

"I'm so proud!" Her mother hugged her. "Gosh, we'll have to get you a present for this!"

"A present!" Hikaru perked up at the thought. If she had known she'd get presents for good grades… well, that's just a different incentive altogether!

Her mother nodded. "You've been so fantastic lately. Ever since we enrolled you in that community service program—you've been staying out of trouble, getting good grades, even!"

Hikaru smiled absently, thinking about how much her life had changed since she had first encountered Sai.

Sai sure was a positive influence on her. Or he had been, at any rate. She didn't think that snatching hospital patients out of their long term illness ward was exactly what her mother had in mind when signing her up for community service, but Hikaru wouldn't take any of it back.

—

The day of the Children's Go Tournament found Hikaru flushed and dejectedly kicking a can across the sidewalk. Her hair was up in a dark ponytail, leaving her face framed by blonde bangs.

She hadn't _meant _to yell aloud the answer in the middle of those two kid's match… but she couldn't help it!

How could that kid have not seen such an easy move?

Hikaru huffed.

Either way, she had gotten herself kicked out. She hadn't even been there very long! _And _she had promised Sai that she'd tell him all about it afterwards. The young teen stuffed her hands in her jacket. The fur hood helped keep out the wind, but her fingers were starting to get numb.

"Why couldn't I have just stayed quiet for _once_!" She sighed aloud, mostly berating herself.

Well, really, it wasn't such a big deal, but just thinking of Sai's pale and longing face in the hospital bed made her wrench in a guilt that had absolutely nothing to do with those two dull kids back at the tournament. It should be Sai who was enjoying to brisk air, the dwindling sunlight and the passion of the Go Tournament that mostly went over her head. Sai shouldn't be stuck in the fate he had—he was too good of a person. It wasn't very fair.

There was a tangy, bitter taste in her mouth that burned there for a long time as she thought about it.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she was literally knocked out of them when a voice shouted out to her.

"Shindou Hikaru!"

It was unfamiliar, and the grade schooler turned questioningly to the culprit.

It was a boy she had never seen before, wearing a uniform she'd never seen before, huffing like he'd just run a mile down the subway line and had resurfaced mere moments ago. He had the oddest hair color… and he was looking straight at her like she'd killed his dog or something.

"Hi." She said slowly. "Can I help you?"

"You—" He blinked, startled, as if her blank, unreadable face was completely bewildering to him. "I…"

At her still questioning face, he blushed and continued again.

"A couple days ago… we played in a Go Salon…" He began uncertainly. "Do you not remember?"

Hah, her, playing people, in a go salon? How laughable! The only people she'd ever bother to play were Isumi and Waya, and the only reason she'd ever be caught dead in a go salon was to further her skills so that one day she'd be a challenge for—

Her face paled.

Sai!

This must have been the boy he played!

"Ah—" She said, startled, hurriedly waving her hands about. "That's right! I remember you! You're… uh…"

"Touya." He replied.

"Yeah! Oh! Are you here for the Go Tournament?" She tilted her head curiously. She had the frightening urge to pull at her pony tail, but refrained.

"What about you?"

"Me?" Hikaru could have laughed. As if she had the determination or the skill to do that. "No, I was just watching."

There was a deep, undisturbed beat of awkward silence, in which Hikaru fidgeted in place and Touya continued to stand her down. She wondered what on earth Sai could have done to create such a lasting impact on the boy, that he'd actually remember her name. Sai had obviously used hers, so she supposed she should have been expecting something like this.

Belatedly, she wondered how good Sai was…

To fill the silence, Hikaru did what she did best—ramble. "Yeah but, I had never seen anything like it before…" She scratched the side of her cheek. "There were kids younger than me, yet they were all really serious."

She smiled nervously, finally giving into the urge and pulled at her pony tail. "It was really great. I was impressed."

"Impressed…" Touya echoed slowly, a bit confused. "You have never been serious?"

"Huh?" Hikaru blinked. "…Serious?"

There was another moment, before Touya demanded quietly, "Can I see your hand?"

Hikaru was a bit creeped out at that, but she had no idea what else to do aside from let him gently clasp her hand in his own. It was such a tender gesture that her face went red. Who was this guy again? !

He seemed to have some sort of revelation before she furiously snatched her hand back.

"Are you going to become a pro?" The boy looked away, asking softly.

Hikaru sputtered, eyes wide. "P—Pro?"

There was a beat of silence, before she doubled over in laughter.

Her? A go Pro? Unlikely. For one, she was so terrible it was laughable. She didn't even want to _know _what her parents would say to that, and not only did she not have the will power or the determination, she also had school, and sports, and a social life, and… Sai to worry about!

"Me, a pro? Are you serious ? ! ?" Hikaru guffawed. "I never even thought about a Go pro before." She giggled. "Touya, you're a funny guy."

"Do you plan on becoming a pro?"

"I do." He said with all the seriousness in the world.

Apparently he didn't think he was very funny. Hikaru stopped laughing then, suddenly unsure of what to say.

"Huh…" She said thoughtfully. "How much money do Pro's make?"

Touya didn't even have to think about it. "The Kisei Tournament is 3.3 million, all 8 crowns are 120 million yen."

Hikaru nearly died on the spot. That was a lot of money! Clothes! Games! Cars! Who knew Go players made so much money? !

She was near salivating.

If only she was any good at the game!

"Wow!" She said aloud. "Wouldn't it be great to just become a pro and grab a few titles or so?" It was more to herself to the boy standing next to her, but he stood shellshocked beside her anyway.

"Grab a few titles?" He repeated, voice raising it what could have been near hysteria. "Just become a pro?"

He took a step forward, and Hikaru leaned back. "Those words… are an insult to all current pros!"

She gaped. Whoa now…

"There's no way you could be a Go player." He yelled. Which was true. "A real Go player would never say something like that!"

Hikaru blinked.

Had she said something wrong?

And then, freaking out a little bit in her head, _What did Sai do to this guy?_

But the other boy wasn't done.

"Just become a pro? Do you realize how hard it is?" He raged on. "Preservance, hard work, pain, disappointment… there are those who have risen above such despair to reach the height that is needed. I have seen these play at my father's side…"

He gulped, looking so enraged Hikaru's breath caught. "Yet you…"

He shook his head.

"Let's play another game right now."

Hikaru could have shrieked if she hadn't already been too surprised to do so.

A game? NOW?

"I will become a pro." He said with conviction. "I will someday. If you can easily become a pro and take a few titles, then you couldn't lose to me here."

He held out his hand.

"Don't run away, let's play right now!"

Hikaru didn't know what else to do, having a slight melt down in her brain as to what the hell was even going on, so she nodded almost unnoticeably, before Touya latched to her hand and pulled her through the oncoming downpour.

The girl was infinitely thankful for choosing jeans and sneakers, else she'd be soaked _and _freezing.

Before the water was able to fully seep into her sweatshirt, the two descended into the tunnel of the metro station. Hikaru caught a look of herself in a passing window and sighed miserably. She looked like some sort of drowned rat, her dark hair tied up was matted and looked almost a bit shriveled and damp with water. The train was already pulled in, and the two were able to slip in quietly.

As the train lurched to a start, her mind reeled as she panicked silently.

What was she going to do?

It's not like she was even remotely good at Go, and certainly not as good as this guy thought her to be. What was she supposed to do? Somehow explain to him that she wasn't who he thought she was, even though she strikingly resembled the boy he played and happened to have the same name?

Hikaru groaned.

How did she get herself into this mess?

She spent most of the metro ride wrangling her hands in her sweatshirt, wondering how she could possibly get out of this.

If only she could somehow get Sai out! While it was wishful thinking, the actual plausibility of this being achieved was relatively low. Sai was under the watchful eye of his doctors, and mostly doped up on drugs and probably so out of sorts and under the weather that it would be impossible to sneak through. And furthermore, she was almost a full metro line away from the hospital from here! The Children's Go Tournament was on the other side of town from both the Meijin's Salon and the hospital.

Hikaru flopped onto the pole supporting her.

If only Akari was here… she always had a plan…

Akari!

Hikaru bolted upright.

That's it!

—

_big-ish update? huzzah? _


End file.
